Find Something New
by Someone's Charm
Summary: Hilary doesn't believe it's her fault when she starts imagining things, but that Tala might have some hand in it. TalaHilary Ch1 revised with extra scenes
1. The Devious Beyblade

Disclaimer: Beyblade? Mine? Ye-err I mean no. It deeply saddens me because then this pairing would have been incorporated into the anime and Tyson would have lost the third world championships.

THIS HAS BEEN REWRITTEN FOR READER ENJOYMENT. I felt that the first disastrous chapter was chasing off everyone from reading the good follow-up. I myself was especially displeased with this. So, I have decided to redo this mainly for my own satisfaction. Don't worry. I ALWAYS take careful thought to the your happiness as well. No matter what, you are thought of when I write.

What's Changed: New scenes added and sections rewritten.

Now, please review. For those who have already reviewed this chapter, then you can always send me a private message. Please don't do anonymous because some of the best reviews I've gotten are anonymous and that means I can't reply to you to give my sincere thanks.

A special thank you to all of you beautiful readers! Every good review lets me know I'm appreciated and my writing loved. Once more, thank you!

* * *

The cold night air sneaked in through the small entry space the window allowed, straying freely throughout the small room, making its occupant tremble as the chills ran up her back. Hilary's lightly chapped hands brought the blanket closer to her chin in an attempt to become more comfortable. She finally woke to her own trembling and was upset to find that curling into a ball had proved useless in this situation. Hoping for the smallest warmth, she buried her nose into her pillow before slowly sitting up and gazing around the room with little thought as to what she was actually seeing. 

Her dry ruby eyes burned as she rubbed them to shake off the exhaustion of sleep. Feeling not so much more awake, Hilary slid her bare legs over the side of the bed. Pajama shorts did nothing to protect her legs from the frigid air that midnight carried. She rubbed her legs with her hands to try easing the freezing sensation even just the smallest bit.

_'I knew I should have packed something else', _Hilary mentally chastised herself.

Squinting through the dark, she reached over to the bedside table and turned the knob for the lamp to turn on. Nothing. Several attempts more were disappointingly useless and provided her with no light for changing. Not deterred, she picked up the lamp and twisted the knob repeatedly with a foolish determination.

* * *

Someone sat up in their bed without a sound insinuating the swift movement, though this still alerted another of the disruption in the night's peace. 

"Kai?" he asked, his instincts telling him that his childhood friend was troubled by the same problem that had been plaguing him for nearly one week.

"It happened again, Tala", the deep voice responded, belonging only to Kai.

"Go back to sleep",he ordered his teammate.

Kai's dark silhouette didn't stir from his position.

"Is it that bad?" Tala asked after several seconds of silence passed by.

"Yeah."

"Fine, but I doubt they'll want to wake up and help you right now."

"They don't get any choice this time."

"You're worried?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me, Kai. After all these years, you can't."

Kai grunted in reply and set his feet on the carpet, numb to the cold. Tala turned on to his side, facing the wall. He tried blocking out any and all sound that disallowed him from falling back to sleep. Now that he had been awoken, the Russian youth wondered if he could now that this sudden feeling of insomnia hadovercome him. If that truly stood in his way of rest, then Tala reasoned that there would be no use in lying there until dawn began sending gentle rays through the window.

Kai was quietly surprised to see his friend sit up before also standing. He stared, which Tala became aware of quickly.

"I'll go too. You don't need to wake them up", he replied to the unvoiced question, leaving out the part of him suddenly becoming an insomniac. There would be questions as to why he was suffering the same odd restlessness as Kai, but Tala preferred to contemplate the matter after having fully woken up from this slight daze.

Without another word added to their conversation, the two teenagers dressed into their regular attire and seized their beyblading gear.

* * *

Defeated, Hilary set the small reading lamp back down not so gently on the bedside table after many tries. She moved her feet to the floor and stood up on the nice carpet with every intention of turning on the ceiling light. True, its brilliance would blind her for a second but she couldn't care less if that meant she could change into warmer garments. 

Careful to avoid the dark silhouette of objects, Hilary reached the area of the wall by the door and felt around for the switch. Her hand quickly brushed over it and her index finger pushed it up.

Nothing.

"You've got to be kidding!" she hissed, seething with intense frustration.

Several impatient clicks followed but the results did not differ. Hilary gritted her teeth in anger and was on the verge of screaming for the cursed light to work. An unexpected noise in the hallway seized her attention, saving the switch from being ripped out of the dully colored wall.

Her first deduction was Daichi was roaming around again sleepwalking. The red-haired midget had a habit of doing that, dreaming that it was spring-cleaning and he had been dumped with the job of cleaning the dojo belonging to Tyson's grandfather. If that was true, then he would soon start boisterously complaining about how everyone else went for ice cream while he was stuck indoors.

The sound met her ears again, but at this point she realized it was the unmistakable sound of a spinning beyblade. Well, perhaps it wasn't so distinctive if her first guess had been the short loudmouth beyblader.

Hilary frowned, not at all amused by the unknown beyblader's antics. It was plain idiocy to beyblade in the middle of the night; it was also incredibly impolite to do it in the hallway which held rooms where people were trying to sleep. After several minutes of hearing the small object repeatedly whirring past her door, she decided to tell whoever it was off.

_'The nerve of this guy! You'd think whoever is doing this just wants to make my night worse!'_

The Japanese teen picked up her hairbrush from the bedside table and quickly went over her chocolate brown locks. She had never been one to stress over her appearance, but it couldn't be denied just how bad her bed-head was. Never again would she endure the teasing and laughing from a pair of monkeys known as Tyson and Daichi. Hilary never wanted to be caught like that again with her hair in a wild mess after rising from bed.

With her hair tamed to look presentable, she was ready to give some poor soul a piece of her sleep-deprived mind. The door creaked unbearably loudly as she opened it without a hint of hesitation. Her eyes were met with darkness once more and her vision quickly adjusted for sight. The whirring was so near yet she couldn't spot neither beyblade nor beyblader.

It seemed silly to turn off the hallway lights on that floor of the BBA building, but Mr. Dickinson had insisted to his associates that this should be done to send a message of rest to the competitors. His reasons were noble, however. The old man was always concerned for the safety and well being of the beybladers, trying to avoid anyone becoming hurt or exhausted to the point of their health being endangered. Still, Hilary wanted some kind of light source to hint what might be covered by the darkness.

There it was again. It was crazy and the constant spinning of some beyblade raised her anger several notches. Hilary wanted whoever had enough nerve to bother her in the middle of the night to pay some kind of price. She blindly looked around once more before stepping forward. Her foot instantly sprung back in a mixture of pain and alarm.

"Ouch! Huh?" She was terribly puzzled by this new object that appeared out of the shadows before her. Spinning in front of Hilary was an unidentified grayish-white beyblade. It stayed in the same place with wonderful balance as if waiting for a reaction from her.

Hilary got down on her knees and leaned forward to get a better look. "Stop moving so I can figure out if you're a bit beast or not!" It may have been ridiculous to talk to a beyblade, but appearing _cool _wasn't an issue at the moment.

The only thing she could make out from the bit chip was some white and a touch of green. That alone wasn't enough to even hint who was behind the beyblade. There was some kind of animal printed on to the center chip.

Hilary made a swipe at it, trying to pick the item up. She flinched in surprise upon seeing it suddenly move at the last second. Hoping to catch the blader off-guard, her hand flew for the beyblade after a wait of several seconds and missed once more. It seemed like she would catch it sooner or later, but it was too obvious that whoever was controlling the blade was toying with her. Several more tries and fails later, a growl of frustration rumbled in her throat. It seemed as if everything she tried that night was destined for failure.

Making sure not to raise her voice and disrupt the other teams, she said with every hint of exhaustion, "Why won't you just leave me alone? I'm tired!"

Hilary yawned to make her point clear to the unknown beyblader and stood back up. She had suffered enough of this nonsense and wanted to return to her bed, which had probably become cold from the lack of her body heat. The small metal object tapped her foot again and went up the hallway. It stopped just at the end, next to the corner.

_'It might just be Tyson and Daichi playing a trick on me, but what if it's something else?' _she contemplated. It could be dangerous, like the person holding the beyblade's launcher. No one in their right mind would be out this late at night.

_'I'm just freaking myself out',_ Hilary assured herself. _'I'm safe here. After all, it's not like Barthez or any of the Blitzkreig Boys are behind it. No other team here is the type to pull sabotage, so there's no need for me to be scared. I'm not even a beyblader, so why would anyone try anything?'_

Nervously biting the long sleeve of her white pajama top, Hilary closed the door to her room and began after the beyblade. The tile floor was freezing under her bare feet and cruelly encouraged her legs to shiver violently at every few steps. The farther she went, the darker it became. A sudden rush of insecurity made her feel obligated to hug herself out of need for self-confidence.

"It's just…nothing", she whispered to herself. She hated how unsure her voice had sounded, wishing for it to be certain.

She stopped at the end of the hall and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing bad. It was a silly, childish dream that there was an evil entity there to harm her. It was as absurd as the infamous monster in the closet.

* * *

"You need a psychiatrist, Kai", Bryan told his opponent as they prepared to launch. Both he and Spencer were finding Kai's recent insomnia problem tiresome (no pun intended). Though despite not having been invited to the late night practice session, thathalf of the team joined them anyway. It proved to be a stroke of luck. 

"I'm fine", was the stoic reply Kai always supplied when asked a question inquiring as to his health.

Tala didn't bother acting as a spectator for their beybattle. Instead, he sat on the floor of the large training room and tried fixing his launcher without having to completely take it apart. His ripcord had jammed while pullingthemetalthrough, proving that something within the custom launcher was out of place. Finding the source of the problem was a tedious task and proving more arduous than first predicted to be. Tala was thankful that the problem had presented itself now instead of ata tournament match. He also didn't have to think about battling Kai thanks to their friends' unexpected arrival.

Seeing that he would have to take this small piece of equipment apart, Tala slumped against the wall as much as he allowed himself. That wasn't too much considering his military upbringing.

"I'm going back", Tala announced to the other three, not bothering to give them the clear reason as to why.

Spencer, who was standing and watching the battle with focus, averted his eyes to Tala and nodded. There was no reaction from Bryan or Kai, but he knew his words had not fallen on deaf ears.

The Blitzkreig Boys' captain stood up and exited out the nearby door, the darkness not at all affecting his enhanced senses. Some things from the abbey just went too deep to depart and leave him normal, making him share the same pathetic senses every other human being possessed.

* * *

The beyblade slowly went down the next hallway and stopped near the end. It went across the tile with an almost fluid movement and such a leisurely speed that it was made rather apparent that it was deliberately just so she would see it. 

Ten steps later and Hilary desired to turn back. Whether it was fear or weariness, all she wanted to do was go back to bed. There it would be warm and secure with nothing to threaten her. The temptation wasn't enough. Her curiosity and anger towards the unknown blader got the better of her. She decided to follow wherever the spinning metal led.

Thinking about it, this situation was like something out of the horror movies that Tyson rented. The two-time world champion would rent something like Nightmare on Elm Street and stay up all night with the lights on. The next day he'd doze off during practice and fall face first into the beydish, earning an extensive lecture from Hiro.

This bit of memory brought a small smile to her face and brought back a shimmer of confidence. Her sensible mind reminded her that masked psychos and chainsaw murderers didn't just pop up. Especially in buildings as well guarded as the ones owned by the BBA. If anything, she was more safe there than at her own home.

"Absolutely nothing to worry about", she laughed at herself.

Hilary let her arms drop contentedly to her side and relaxed her tense shoulders. Kenny had a point when he told her that logic could be comforting. It separated the real from the fictional and frightening.

Paranoia settled back into her as did the chilly atmosphere. It was insane how she could lighten up for just the shortest second before being filled with a terrifying dread.

Her feet moved across the floor in a dead run, hurrying towards the white beyblade. She didn't know why that was chosen to be the goal, but it was all there was to go for at the moment. The target zoomed behind another corner to lead her further through the building. Hilary rounded the corner, out of breath from dread and running.

Her legs gave out beneath her without warning and Hilary felt herself fall into slumber at the same time she fell to the floor.

* * *

Hilary sighed and cuddled deeper into the soft pillow. She tried convincing herself that it wasn't real. It was just a dream leftover from Tyson's latest movie rental. A mental note was made to yell at him later for her lack of good sleep. 

Shaking her head, the brunette rolled on to her stomach for several minutes then changed to lying on her side. She brought her knees near her chest and hugged her legs for extra warmth. Hilary shivered and blamed whoever had left the heater off.

She buried her nose into the pillow and inhaled deeply. Her mind forgot about the frigid air and focused more on the delightful scent. It wasn't the aroma of a kind of fruit or something ridiculous like bubblegum that stores sold to teenage girls. The smell couldn't be, considering she didn't wear any of that stuff. This pleasing scent was masculine, far from feminine. Hilary breathed in deeply once more and analyzed it again.

Her eyes opened in shock as she realized that this pillow couldn't be her own because this was, without a doubt, cologne of some sort. It was most likely a body wash. It was different and didn't remind her of anyone she knew. None of the BBA Revolution wore that kind of stuff. Especially not this variety. Sitting up, Hilary frantically looked around her surroundings for an explanation.

This room, as suspected, was certainly not her own. Mr. Dickinson had been kind enough to give her a personal room so she wouldn't have to share with the guys on her team. This was definitely one of the guest rooms for BBA tournament competitors. This one just didn't belong to her. It held four beds total and still enough area to keep one's personal space. The other three beds were neatly made as if no one had slept in them at all. A duffel bag was next to each of them, just as perfect looking as the beds. Hilary briefly wondered if whoever occupied the room even took time to sleep. She noticed that at the end of the room, there was a door that, with her luck, was most likely locked.

Hilary gingerly picked up the pillow to look for anything abnormal about it. Finding nothing, she dropped the item back on to the bed. Panic flooded her as well as fear. She had been completely vulnerable asleep and even now her being was in danger. She checked herself for cuts or anything out of the ordinary and was relieved to find nothing new.

It was tempting to kick herself for having unthinkingly walked into such an evident trap. Hilary knew she should have figured out that anything the white beyblade led her to couldn't have been good. She wondered what she had thought it was leading her too. It had been painfully apparent there was nothing right.

"Why is everything so much more clearer afterwards?" she sighed quietly to herself.

Her eyes locked on an object sitting beside the lamp of the bedside table. It was the same white beyblade that had taunted her and led her straight into this trap. With unnecessary caution, she picked it up. This could be a major clue to help her figure out just where she was. The greatest question was what was on the bit chip.

Hilary held the top-like item up so it was level with her face. The small picture of a feral arctic wolf glared back at her from the bit chip. It was wild and lethal, a terrifying combination in a bit beast. The beast's fur was an awesome white that could remind anyone of a harsh tundra. Two beautiful emerald-like structures stuck out of its back as if they were wings. It had one large paw forward like it was taking a step towards a doomed prey. Glancing back down at the bedside table, she spotted a peculiar launcher that resembled a handgun. Shaken, she returned to looking at the small object in her hand.

She brought the beyblade close up to her ruby optics in order for it to entirely fill her field of vision. It seemed impossible to stop staring at the wolf, who only stared back. Hilary could even tell that the animal's eyes were a stunning red on orange, despite that the optics were so small in the picture.

The door leading to the room closed with a click, signaling that someone had entered. The brunette brought the beyblade down enough for her to see the newcomer, reality slowly setting back into her mind. She was met with a stare from a pair of striking icy blue eyes.

The beyblade loosened in her grip and fell into her lap. It went completely unnoticed as nervousness overcame her head. Another thing Hilary knew she should have thought of: preparing to see someone she didn't want to face. It was another thing she didn't realize until it was too late.

The teen's eyes were entirely focused on her while he walked over to a side of the bed. In one swift movement, he had swiped back his beyblade. She never looked away either, internally fearful of the world class Russian blader.

"What do you think you're doing? Don't touch Wolborg again."

* * *

Review and I really hope this is better. It's five pages on size 10 font. That's nice and a page longer than before the update. 

Hopefully, I'll have some reviews in the morning. Don't let me down, my good readers!

Ciao For Now Everyone!


	2. A Hint of Confusion

Disclaimer: You know the drill. Stop, drop, and don't copyright. I know I'm not. Why? Because Beyblade does soooooo not belong to me. cries These things are so depressing!

Author Notes: I never gave up on this fanfic thanks to you lovely reviewers. In the past five days, I have written more than I have in the past few months to finish just for you. This sudden "writing splurge" happened when I was reading all of the reviews for this and was given the shove I needed to write. Everyday after school, I came here to my basement, into the computer room, and typed away for this story. I know, this is now different from what I had first told you. I am sorry if you feel mislead. However, only so much has changed. It is a lot like the original but differs in very good ways. Please give this a chance. It is still a Tala/Hilary and it is still connecting to the abbey and what happened there. All of the answers still lie in Russia.

This took me four longs hours to rewrite. Then an hour to reread. Heck, you better review and tell me what you did like! I need to know what I should do more of and what I should do less of.

Lets see. This was a full seven pages on size eleven font. I'd say this is nearly double the size of chapter one! You deserve it too after this long wait. I WILL continue this and finish what is going to be the first Tala/Hilary with mulitchapters and completed.

* * *

Chapter 2: A Hint of Confusion

"Get up! I wasn't trying to scare you", Tala's voice told her, clear and insistent on her awakening. He had just given an order to get up from lying down, but to Hilary it didn't make sense. She was clueless as to why she was on her back and Tala, of all people, was ordering her up. It then dawned upon her drowsy mind that she was asleep, taking nearly half a minute to realize the obvious.

Her ruby eyes shot open and quickly closed at the sudden burst of fluorescent lighting that met her sensitive retinas. A groan escaped as she rolled on to her cold side, burying her face deep in the pillow as she tried to recollect a few memories. Something had happened, for sure, but no logical reason came as to why was Tala there.

"You are not going to sleep here", Tala's commanding tone said out of nowhere. It was almost like he was nowhere despite there being no echo following. Hilary felt a hand on her shoulder and she was shoved on to her back. With her body still stiff and waking up, the force hurt while her brain recovered to proper working order.

Hilary sat up, leaning on one arm for support, and yawned before looking up at the stoic red-head. "Tala? What are you doing here?"

Surprise. Surprise! That was the emotion that she was experiencing just as she stumbled onto the fact that a boy she knew little to nothing about was in her room. But like most girls who had the displeasure of being body conscious, Hilary found herself more uncomfortable about how she looked at the moment. It was hardly presentable. Her short brown hair was no doubt a terrible mess, clothes ruffled from lying down, and the large shirt was hanging off of her left shoulder to reveal more skin. Hilary immediately pulled the shoulder of her shirt back up to its proper place and pulled up the sleeves so they no longer hid her hands. Fingers didn't make a good comb, but she did what she could to fix her hair in any way possible.

Tala stared as Hilary did various things to better her appearance. It was no shock to him because he already knew that girls were absorbed in their outer exterior and those around them, which was mainly the male population. Hilary, of course, was no different. He didn't really care, however, and was feeling slightly annoyed at having to wait as she groomed herself.

Her attention snapped back to Tala, making him wonder if she had just realized he was there beside her. On the contrary, Hilary had never felt more his presence at her side. It was chilling and seemed to go through her like a cold wind. It was almost as if Tala were the very source of the cold radiating through the room.

"I uh how did I get, well, here?" she asked, suddenly recalling her discovery of being in an alien room that belonged to the infamous Blitzkreig Boys. "Wait! Was that your beyblade I saw?" The colors did match up.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course." Tala wondered how dense this girl had to be. Why else would he become so mad at her for touching the white beyblade?

"Then it was you beyblading in the hallway!"

"What are you talking about? I've been here the entire time", Tala explained to her, giving his alibi. "I've been working on my be launcher."

Hilary tried thinking back to the beyblade she had seen. It had looked just like the wolf bit beast, she was sure of her assumptions. The same gray-ish white and bit of green in the center. Or was it blue, she wondered. No, it was green.

"But I'm positive! It had to have been yours", she argued back, believing that he was lying to her.

"Look, I already told you-"

"Don't think I don't know about your team's dirty reputation!"

His eyes narrowed and expressed winter's fury, his pale face darkening with shadow as he automatically realized who had been telling this insolent little girl all they thought they knew about him. She had never even said a word to him, let alone actually have the smallest clue as to what his life had been like. Apparently, Hilary had been too busy being a tagalong to the ex-Bladebreakers plus Tyson Granger's nanny and clichéd cheerleading girlfriend. He strived for a better reputation! She was nothing.

"Let me guess, Tyson told you about me." Tala was wordlessly daring her to reply. She took the bait.

"No, Kenny told me!"

Like that was better.

"You mean the nerd with no eyes. He's got a phobia for everything! That kid freaks out when people look at him."

"Well he was right!"

"I could have just left you in the hallway", he reminded her.

Hilary tried glaring back but gave up and sighed in compliance to his words. True, he was right and could have left her freezing on the hard tiled floor of the hallway to be found in the morning after being tripped over by some random beyblader. In a way, Tala was like Kai; both bladers were fierce, self-confident, and antisocial to the core.

A pile of pieces and components were suddenly discarded on to her lap, Tala tossing her the ripcord last. Hilary had worked on Tyson and Daichi's beyblades enough to know the parts of a launcher and these were it, only this appeared to be a custom model.

"But I just saw it on the…"

There was no launcher on the bedside table.

Frightened for her own sweet sanity, Hilary frantically looked for something to reassure herself with. She just had, had to make sure that nothing was wrong. Maybe this was just a dream? But if that delightful little spark of hope was true, then how could her mind conjure up such frightening eyes as Tala's?

Wait. Tala. His hand!

Hilary snatched Wolborg back out of his left hand, which had loosened its grip on the powerful beyblade. She turned it over and desperately searched the details of the bit chip. The ice wasn't green, but instead a very light blue.

Before she could scream at her discovery, another change, Tala seized her wrist in a vice-like grip. This caused her to instantly drop his precious beyblade and to try pulling her arm away, but to no avail. Her grabbing Wolborg had gotten his anger to flare after having firmly told her that his prized object was off limits. Flinching as it became worse, Hilary took his hand with her free one and tried pushing his off. Metal on her palm informed Hilary that Tala was certainly different. There were few caring people who went around with metal on the knuckles and on the back of their gloves.

"I told you never to touch him again!" Tala reminded her sternly. How rapidly he did become possessive of his beyblade.

"It's blue!"

"What?" Her reply was unanticipated.

"The last time I looked at your bit beast, those things coming out of its back were green! But now they're blue!"

Tala rolled his eyes impatiently at the stupidity girls all too often possessed. "Those _things _are ice and ice is blue." It was almost as if he were talking to a very dense child.

His mocking words laughed at her, making Hilary fall a bit into denial at her own beliefs. "But it was green and you launcher was put together and-"

Her bruised wrist was released and his other hand came up to her forehead. Due to his gloves, he touched her forehead only with the tips of his fingers after brushing chocolate brown hair aside. From what he could tell, there was no sign of a fever. Chicken pox? It would have shown by now. The girl didn't have a cold either due to lack of the symptoms.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a faint blush blossoming on her face. It was undeniable that the youth before her was terribly attractive to the smallest physical point. Very few girls could possibly have the ability to control themselves from turning flushed at his mere touch, though at the moment it felt like a seemingly impossible task.

"You're not sick, so it must be a mental problem", he bluntly informed her of his opinion.

Hilary sat up straighter. "I'm fine! I'm just tired."

The Russian crossed his arms. "You don't black out when you're tired."

"I'm not crazy", she told him firmly.

He raised a red eyebrow, giving her a very questioning look.

"I'm not! I'm just as sane as you are."

A short bitter laugh escaped Tala, finding that to be laughable in a way that lacked any humor. He wondered sometimes how sane he was compared to everyone around him. His mind was clear, missing not a single thing that others else easily overlooked without a second thought. He could identify what was worth the effort and what was not. But the abbey, however, scarred him. Was it a scar on his sanity as well? If there was one, he denied its existence entirely.

Tala opened the door leading out.

"Hm?" she looked at him, not understanding the gesture. Feeling silly, Hilary figured out what he was insinuating; Tala wanted her to leave the Blitzkreig Boys' room and return to her own, which happened to be several long, spooky hallways away. As unwise as it was to disobey Tala, she quickly made up her mind to stay and figure things out. In truth, she would probably stay there until Tala physically forced Hilary out while swearing in his native tongue at her.

She crossed her arms stubbornly, not making any effort to move. "What are you up to?"

"Not this again."

"I saw your beyblade and there was green on it! And you launcher wasn't, well, apart!" It had to have been the weakest argument she had ever given, to say the least, but Hilary kept pushing for an answer. She refused to believe that her own eyes had deceived her.

"I heard you collapse outside and brought you in here until you woke up. Whatever you saw, it wasn't Wolborg." Tala controlled the impatient growl that threatened to rise from deep in his throat.

"Then what about the launcher? I saw it completely put together just before you got here!" Hilary continued with her argument. The components of Tala's beylauncher still on her lap forgotten.

This girl really did think he was behind all of this, that he was scheming just how to get under her skin to make her miserable. It was always about them and no one else. That was just how self-centered girls were. That was how Tala figured the opposite gender to be, anyway. The worst part was that they ogled him wherever he went. He'd get no peace and still can't escape their large staring eyes. Such treatment was especially hard to deal with in Russia because everyone adored their home team to begin with. It was hectic before him and the rest of his team left for the Tag Team championship, everyone literally screaming their encouragement for them to win and bring honor to Russia.

Tala walked over to her, closing the door with his foot first, and leaned down to bring their faces closer. He looked dreadfully wolfish with a smirk and a slight mischievous grin on his lips. It was so intimidating yet so…teasing, Hilary slumped back a bit out of some fear but more out of marvel at this new attitude. She told herself that if he had in mind what she assumed he was, Hilary was ready to be resistant. Boys were such perverts that way. Truthfully, a small part of her questioned her resistance idea. If he did kiss her, would she willfully let him only because of shallow physical attraction? It was unlike her but still a possibility. Heck, she had realized that he was different the first time she had seen him when the sports channel had featured the Blitzkreig Boys arriving in New York. The media were always ready to jump on anything happening to his team, and she'd be lying to deny out loud that it wasn't for their looks. There was just something in the little things Tala did to make him seem so wolfish and so much better than all the other regular guys. The strangest thing was that this intriguing appearance was completely natural. She blushed.

"So…you think I'm a Russian spy?"

Hilary slowly swallowed those words and picked up what he meant. He was laughing at her! Not aloud, but is words were cruelly mocking and jeering at her reaction to their closeness. The jerk had played off of her emotions for is own amusement!

"Get away from me! Since you're being so rude, the least you can do is walk me back to my room!" she courageously yelled heatedly in his smirking face.

Tala stood up straight, keeping a glare from forming on his face. "Look, you can walk back on your own. Now get out."

Hilary glared as fiercely as she could at him and growled angrily at his unaffected gaze. Putting the pieces of the beylauncher on the bedside table, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and climbed off. Her feet tingled at the sensation of the cool floor under her feet, but Hilary tried ignoring that and went towards the door with stiff, angry steps. It turns out that the bed had been warmer than thought now that its comforts were gone.

"You really don't have to be so foul about it!" she yelled back before opening the door and slamming it shut behind her.

Tala rolled his eyes. Girls.

* * *

Hilary hurriedly strode back to her room in hopes of going back to sleep and forgetting about Tala and hoping that he would forget the recent events. That jerk was just so- 

_'Like Kai.'_

Once again, she found that the two beybladers tended to mainly differ in their elements and little else. Yes, the enigmatic one of the ex-Bladebreakers definitely spoke far less than Tala, his team captain. Both could infuriate Hilary to the point of her throwing a fit, or something similar to what she had just done. They somehow know what to say to make her furious, while Tyson knew her the for a longer period of time and still struggled in arguments. Only Kai knew what to say and how to act to make her understand that it was all right; he could make her see that there was no need for her to get worked up. But Tala, he just kept going and going; he mocked her and silently snickered in his own special sadistic way.

_'Russian spy. That…ugh! I'm just so MAD at him! I hope we beat him in the finals! He'll deserve it more than anyone else!'_

Hilary refrained from running up and kicking the door to her room. She held on to the part of her that was sensible and took the door knob, making sure to keep herself relaxed. There was no way that the human-wolf was getting her angry. No. He wouldn't do that, not to her. Tala whatever-his-surname-was wasn't getting under her skin, or so she told herself. Denial kept her from seeing that he had done just that in less than ten minutes.

She turned the door knob, but found a minor problem: it was locked.

It hadn't been locked when she left! It was closed, but unlocked because she hadn't brought her room key with her. It would have been unreasonable considering that she was in her pajamas and there were no pockets. Why would there even be pockets on pajamas? Nothing was making sense anymore.

Hilary pulled harder and began jiggling the handle in a more desperate fashion. The door didn't budge one bit, leaving her stuck on the outside of her room. Now what?

_'Oh great.'_

Not there, she mentally begged. No other person came to mind to go to for help. Didn't people like him know how to break locks anyway? Maybe he wouldn't mind helping too much, just to get her out of his hair.

* * *

Tala opened the door at hearing a knock and looked down, his eyes instantly becoming icy at seeing Hilary standing there before him. She looked ridiculously shy and couldn't meet his stare, watching the floor. He briefly wondered if she was too scared to go back, but rejected that idea considering that she couldn't have been standing outside of the door the entire time. 

Seeing that he wouldn't be the first to speak, Hilary informed him of her predicament. "My door is locked."

This truly had turned into the most embarrassing night of her life. She yelled at him and then came back for assistance. Yeah, now he'd respect her for sure.

Tala desisted from yelling harsh words. "You locked your door and didn't bother to bring a key." It wasn't a question. He was just pouring salt in the wound and watching her twitch and writher.

"I didn't lock it!" Hilary defended herself, finally looking up at Tala.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you expect me to do?"

The wintry look Tala gave her left Hilary with a lack of words. "W-well, I was hoping…"

"That I'd help you?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

"Yeah, I do expect you to help me", she told him more boldly, irritated by his tone.

He made a sound that resembled a snort, but she couldn't tell because it was so subtle.

"You're wasting my time." Now Tala was making an effort to be callous towards her.

"What are you doing up in the middle of the night anyway?" Hilary asked, very suspicious of him. She wasn't about to accuse him of a plot to take over the world, but something weird was going on if he was up at what had to be around three in the morning.

"I'm waiting for the rest of my team to return. They're training right now."

"Training?" Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow in question of the other, only she put her hands on her hips along with it. "And in the middle of the night?"

"It isn't any of your concern why we're awake", Tala hissed at her.

Hilary understood that this subject was closed unless she wanted him to get angry enough to perhaps strike her. Would he? Then there was still the fact that her door was locked and she needed the only help that was awake. If only it was someone other than Tala. She'd rather it have been Kai, who would at least help her after she stated her problem instead of standing in the doorway ridiculing her.

"Whatever! Can you at least help me?" Hilary brought up the earlier question, accidentally adding a tone of desperation at the end. She was exhausted, after all.

Tala caught that and sighed, closing his eyes thoughtfully. "You're Tyson's girlfriend, right?"

"No way! Like there's a chance I'd ever date that selfish, arrogant pig!" Memories of all those times he had frustrated, embarrassed, and annoyed her came to mind right away. She didn't dislike him, no, Hilary just didn't find him to be a boyfriend.

He opened his eyes fully to look at her, entrancing blue orbs absent of any kind of cruelness. Tala actually looked a little tired. But still, his eyes were _gorgeous_. No one had eyes like that. No one.

"You're with his team, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you go to them instead of me?"

All words fled and her ruby eyes widened in realization. She _could _have just gone to the guy's room and gone through the connecting door. Heck, it was the first place that Hilary should have thought of instead of going to Tala for assistance. And for him to comprehend it first instead of her, she felt more embarrassed than before.

'It's not like he had to go on and on about how stupid I was before telling me!'

Not even looking at Tala, Hilary quickly turned and walked hastily down the hallways to the BBA Revolution's room. Her mind was too far into thinking of how much like a fool she looked instead of the creepy atmosphere.

Hilary wrapped her fist on the door to the room twice, her knuckles hurting from the impact. Several seconds of Tyson and Daichi snoring harmoniously were all that followed. She tried again and was depressed to find the same results. Ready to give up, she froze as a familiar hand reached right over her shoulder and hammered fiercely on the door, making her flinch. Tala's knocks were loud and incredibly demanding of entrance. What was truly surprising was the fact that he came with her. Hilary had assumed he'd let her sleep in the hall if her friends didn't wake up. Then again, he hadn't left her in the hall the first time.

_'Maybe he's nice on the inside.'_

WHAMWHAMWHAM! Tala's knuckles hit the area of the door right across from her ear.

_'Or maybe he's just some impatient, cocky little-'_

Tyson opened the door not even half awake and still clad in only his blue boxers. He saw Hilary first mainly because she was standing right in front of him, but his attention quickly shifted to the red-head standing directly behind her. The wolf's reaction turned from surprise to a look of pure disgust.

"T-tala!" Tyson all but squeaked grabbing a blanket and holding it to cover himself in a girl-like fashion. His eyes went wide in sheer humiliation of having one of his greatest opponents (the only greater one being Kai) seeing him look like this. Whatever respect Tyson might have received from the blader was now surely lost.

Hilary blushed crimson, but not because she was seeing a boy in his boxers. Sadly for Tyson, he was too…_him _to be attractive in this near naked way. Red sprouted across her face because now the BBA Revolution would really be the laughing stock among beybladers as soon as Tala spread word to his teammates, who would taunt relentlessly.

"My door is locked", she nearly mumbled, averting her eyes from the laughable so-called world champion. Making matters only worse, Daichi appeared next also only wearing his boxers. Oh, but this time was far, far worse. His boxers were _pink _with faces of _bears _on them.

The midget yawned. "Tyson, stop hoggin' the blanket. I'm freazin'!"

Tala, wide eyed, looked from Tyson to Daichi. His following laugh was harsh.

"I always had a feeling that you weren't straight, Tyson!"

The bluenette glared, but there was no effect due to his eyes still looking unfocused. "Say what!"

"Huh?" Daichi caught on quicker and gritted his teeth. Tala looked down at Daichi, making the boy become aware of his current wardrobe choice. The boy hastily joined Tyson to be hidden by the blanket.

Kenny joined the group next, yawning. Whatever Kenny was wearing was thankfully hidden by the blanket which was being stretched between Tyson and Daichi.

"Why did you two get u-TALA!" Kenny panicked and also clutched on to the blanket. All three beybladers of the BBA Revolution team were terribly self-conscience that night.

Tala looked at the three cowering before him and gave a look of contempt. Oh yes, everyone would know of this by mid-afternoon tomorrow.

"A three-way?" He closed his eyes, smirking. "I guess that would be the only way that he made it on the team." Tala's heartless jest was, of course, aimed towards Kenny. Sadly, the timid boy was unable to come up with a clever reply. Hilary would have come to her friend's aid at once under ordinary circumstances. This, however, was far from the average every day events, so she kept her mouth shut in absolute humiliation.

"What do you want anyway, Tala?" Tyson demanded, trying to save face. Unfortunately, his efforts were futile by that time.

Hilary interrupted. "My door is locked and I can't get into my room. Tala was just helping me out."

Tyson, Daichi, and Kenny moved aside as a group to keep themselves safely concealed by the blanket as they moved aside to allow Hilary access inside. In a way, they had moved like an opening door.

Hilary turned to face Tala, forcing herself not to avert her eyes anywhere else besides his face. Hilary knew that it was too late for her friends, but she still had her own dignity to uphold.

"Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it." It was a sincere statement. He may have been rude, but he hadn't turned her down. That was all she could ask for from him.

Tala didn't give her the same look he had frozen the others with. This was unreadable, stoic, with whatever his thoughts were on the brunette well hidden.

"Goodnight", Hilary told him, her voice returning to a whisper that was commonly used when tired in the middle of the night.

Tala nodded.

* * *

Review, of course. I'd like to give a big thanks to angeLhearteD, Carzla, and Chibi-Lothlen. A group of the greatest Blitzkreig Boys writers. Their fanfictions really helped and inspired me with my own.

A special thank you to Enigmatic Eel. Talking to you, my friend, helped me without even going on to the subject of my own fanfictions. Though I do know I'll be writing a Kai/Mathilda thanks to the conversation we had the other day. Heck, that scene with Tyson, Daichi, and Kenny in their "sleepwear" would have never been written had I not done all that bashing in our chat.

Ciao For Now Everyone!


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